System for maintaining desired heated or cooled beverage for extended duration

ABSTRACT

A system for heating or cooling a liquid beverage and maintaining desired range of drinking temperature is described by utilizing a container having a concave shape for the body of the container, a converging neck portion with cylindrical chimney with threaded sleeve that receives a threaded closure for closing and sealing the cap. The type of threads or closing method in not novel nor claimed as part of the invention, but rather the combination of thinness between the front side of the container and rear side of the container, the height and width aspect ratio, the concave shape in conjunction with a complementing-shaped protective insulating and heat reflecting sleeve, and temporary heat source or cooling source. The shape of the container allows the liquid contents of the container to be rapidly heated or cooled, with the heated or cooled state retained for an optimal duration by application of the thermally insulative and thermally reflective sleeve, which includes as a benefit of the shape of the container and sleeve, a designed-in potential space for application of a precisely sized temporary heat source or cooling source which maintains the temperature of the contents of the container in a desired heated or cooled state.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to thin wall metal beverage cans, glass or plastic beverage containers, and in particular to beverage containers having a threaded neck portion for receiving a threaded closure cap to seal the contents of the container.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Aluminum cans are now widely used in the packaging of beer, soft drinks, etc. and these are typically shaped as a cylinder. Although the standard aluminum cans offer a number of advantages for the beverage suppliers, such as low cost, excellent barrier properties, recyclability, etc., there is at present a significant interest in reclosable/resealable cans with an extreme oval, or concave shape for certain market segments.

There have been many attempts to design a reclosable can, such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,171,840 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,261,216. PCT Publication No. WO 99/10242 published Mar. 4, 1999 shows yet another form of resealable can closure making use of a screw cap. Dickhoff et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,026 issued Jan. 4, 2000 shows a reclosable can with a threaded top for receiving a threaded closure cap. In these and all prior embodiments, the can described is a traditional cylindrical can, with a necked portion and recloseable cap.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved form of reclosable and resealable metal, plastic or glass container which emulates the traditional glass “flask” or ovoid shape (when observed from the bottom of said container, for packaging considerations, as well as rapid heating or cooling of the liquid contents therein, and when used in conjunction with a system of matched insulative sleeve which encompasses nearly all exposed surfaces, and a disposable, insertable heat source or cooling source, an improved and extended hot beverage consumption experience is achieved even in cold weather conditions, and likewise an extended cold beverage consumption experience in hot weather.

Electrically heated beverage containers are numerous (US D358071 S, Gill), (U.S. Pat. No. 6,870,135 B2, Hamm/Lord/Clark), US D417127 S, Steadward, Schroder), CA2773338, Ulvr), U.S. Pat. No. 8,459,491 B2, Savenok), U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,161A, Stein) as are methods for heating a container (U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,420 A, Montalto) But the energy expended to heat a liquid to 160 F requires either a wired connection to an electrical grid, or a battery system which is bulky and poses waste stream obstacles. The present invention and system uses disposable and fully recyclable simple materials to keep an already heated beverage within the optimum temperature range, without need for further connection to an electrical grid, or usage of batteries. In addition, the construction of the systems eliminates the need for internal heating elements or wires.

Almost all of the prior art in the heated beverage field uses a standard circular design, the cup or bottle shape that is ubiquitous in the industry. In such a design, the heat source used to keep the liquid at the optimum temperature is often at the bottom of the unit. Thus only a small portion of the overall surface area is exposed to the heat source at a given time. With the concave flask shape of the present invention and system, the disposable heat source is the same length and width of the container, thus exposing one entire side of the container to the heat source at all times. In addition, the relative thinness of the flask shape provides that the furthest any portion of the liquid is from the heat source is less than 20 mm.

In addition, round beverage containers are only useful for keeping one's hands warm, and cannot be placed into a pocket inside of a coat, specifically a pocket on the inside of the garment. The relative thinness of the flask shape allows for the container to easily be placed in an interior pocket and thus serve to warm the torso of the person consuming the beverage, particularly in an outdoor setting such as a sporting event. In addition, even when the liquid is completely consumed, the empty container and system will still have residual heat value, and can continue to keep the consumer warm in a cold environment. This is something that any traditional round shaped bottle or container warmer are simply not in the optimal shape or design to accomplish, and is an additional benefit of the present invention.

Self-heating beverage containers using chemical means are also numerous where two or more substances must mix together to create the heat (U.S. Pat. No. 8,783,244 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 8,578,926 B2Ford/Lund) but this method and other similar methods (U.S. Pat. No. 8,555,870 B2 Coffey/Kwiatkowski/Bookout), (U.S. Pat. No. 8,556,108 B2 Farone/Palmer) focus on heating from a room temperature or cold condition, to for example, 145° F., which requires the chemicals to heat to over 200° F. This requires safety precautions to be built into the device which the present invention does not require, because the design is to keep the liquid inside the container at the preferred temperature for an extended period of time after it has initially been heated by a separate, commercially available heating device. In addition, these chemical reactions require comparatively advanced engineering whereupon the reactive agents must be kept completely separate until the desired instant for heating. These methods are not required with the present invention. Other prior art includes a methods for reusing a heating method by “recharging” (U.S. Pat. No. 7,942,145 B2 Palena/Torseth/Beatty) which again requires usage of advanced chemicals, processes, and user interaction including taking time and steps to recharge using electricity thus making this prior art method disadvantageous due to the electricity usage as described above, as well as the chemicals required, and the user intervention required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a recloseable metal beverage container made from a thin gauge metal, e.g., an aluminum alloy, or alternatively, glass or high temperature-capable plastic. The container has a definitive front side and back side, as the shape of the container is concave in the preferred embodiment, and extreme oval in an alternate embodiment (the concaved side being the rear of the container), allowing a descriptive label to be shown on the front side. There is a converging shoulder portion extending upwardly and inwardly from the sides, and a neck extending upwardly from the top of the shoulder portion. The concaved side of the preferred embodiment allows for the placement of the container into an ovoid shaped thermally insulating and thermally reflective sleeve. This creates a lens-shaped void in-between the back of the container and the thermal sleeve. This void is subsequently filled with a disposable heat source (already commercially available) that can be used to heat the contents of the container, or keep already heated contents to the preferred heated drinking state. Likewise the void can be filled with a commercially available cooling packet. By the fact that the concave (flask) shape of the container means that the entire container is less than 1.5 inches deep, the container, without the thermal sleeve, can also be heated by the consumer or beverage vendor (restaurant/bar) in a derivative of a commercially available wide-opening “toaster” type of heating device, or microwave oven in the case of a glass or plastic container. This optional heating method is optimized by the combination of the wideness (sq. inches of area on front and rear of the container, and thinness of the volume of the container (as compared to a cylindrical beverage can). When heat is applied to both sides in the “toaster”, the shape of the container facilitates the rapid heating the contents. Regardless of the heating method used, the beverage contained therein is thereby enjoyed by the consumer in a heated state. Rigorous testing has shown that the contents of the container will maintain the desired temperature up to 1 hour longer than a container without the benefits of the system in this application. In a cooling application, the thermally insulative sleeve combined with a cooling packet has a similar effect of keeping the beverage at the optimal temperature for an extended duration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings which represent the present invention:

FIG. 1 is a depiction of the beverage container in the preferred embodiment, according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal cross-section of the container body.

FIG. 3 is a depiction of the horizontal cross-section of the thermal sleeve designed to fit the concave nature of the container, and the placement of the disposable heat source.

FIG. 4 is a depiction of the thermal sleeve only.

FIG. 5 is a depiction of the instant-heat packet halfway inserted in-between the rear side of the container and the thermal sleeve.

FIG. 6 is a depiction of the container inserted in to the thermally protective sleeve.

FIG. 7 is a depiction of the container being heated in an electric small appliance.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring in general to FIG. 1 there is shown a concave-shaped container (1) for use in the present invention which includes a container body having a front sidewall (2), a rear sidewall (3), a bottom wall (4), a top shoulder portion (5) and a neck portion (6). The material used to form the container body, when constructed from metal, is preferably an aluminum alloy in the 3000 series having an initial thickness of about 0.006-0.020 inch. Alternatively the container is glass of typical beverage container thickness, or high-temperature plastic.

FIG. 2 shows a horizontal cross section of the container body (view from the bottom of the container) and the concave shape of the container (10).

FIG. 3 depicts a horizontal cross-section of the thermal sleeve (11), which is comprised of paper construction with exterior smooth surface (12), corrugated middle surface (13) and smooth inner surface (14). The inner layer of the sleeve also contains a heat-reflecting barrier (15). The sleeve also contains a bottom portion (16) which ensures that a disposable heat source or cooling source (17) that after insertion between the can and sleeve, cannot fall out the bottom of the sleeve.

FIG. 4 depicts a thermal sleeve (11) in an ovoid shape, with flaps (8) folded down to cover the shoulder portion of the container. The thermally protective, layered construction (9) is also depicted.

FIG. 5 depicts the disposable heat source or cooling source (17) inserted halfway into the thermal sleeve (11).

FIG. 6 depicts the container (1) inserted into the thermally protective sleeve (11) with the container neck (6) and threaded top (7) protruding above the folded-over flaps (8) that aid in heat retention due to their thermally protective, layered construction (9).

FIG. 7 is an illustration of the container (1) being heated in a small electric heating appliance (18) dedicated to the heading of the present invention, with the container not yet inserted into the thermal sleeve which occurs after heating the liquid contents to the desired temperature.

Note, an optimized thermally protective sleeve is part of the system described and claimed in this Patent Application, but the method and use of any thermally protective sleeve to not just insulate a beverage container but direct heat from a disposable heat source back into the contents of the container is intended to be covered by this patent application. The method of heating the concave/flask-shaped aluminum, glass or high temperature plastic recloseable beverage in a small electric “toaster” appliance is intended to be covered by this application.

The invention thus being described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A thin wall metal, glass or plastic container comprising: a. a concave or ovoid shaped body where the width of the container is roughly 4 times the thickness of the container, which gives the container a flask appearance. b. a chimney or neck that transitions the concave “flask” shape to a standard circular opening, which can accommodate a commercially available re-sealable cap.
 2. A process for heating the contents of the container in a small electric appliance. The manner of heating the present invention in any appliance is intended to be covered by this application.
 3. An insulating protective sleeve comprising: a. A smooth exterior surface, a corrugated paper middle section, and a smooth interior surface. b. the inner portion of the sleeve in addition contains a not just thermally insulative but thermally reflective surface which directs heat from a heat source back into the container. c. the sleeve contains a bottom which keeps a commercially available disposable heat source or cooling source in the proper position and prevents it from sliding out the bottom of the assembled container and protective sleeve, as well as retaining heat that might be lost through the bottom of the container.
 4. A process for maintaining the temperature of the contents of the container by application of the combination of container shape, thermally protective, insulative and reflective sleeve, and commercially available disposable heat source. 